Unexpected guilty plea in manslaughter trial

Photo: Contributed

A Kelowna man, accused of fatally stabbing a 23-year-old has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Noah Vaten is one of the men accused of killing 23-year-old Esa Carriere in Downtown Kelowna during the 2018 Canada Day celebrations.

Vaten and Nathan Truant's manslaughter trial began in February.

Over the last week prosecutor Colin Forsyth played Vaten a number of downtown Kelowna surveillance videos from the night Carriere was killed.

Throughout Vaten's cross examination he maintained that he doesn't remember the evening, due to his intoxication from alcohol and cocaine.

The Crown maintains that Vaten delivered a fatal stab wound to Carriere's chest while a group punched and kicked Carriere on the ground near the Queensway Bus loop.

Following the altercation that left Carriere dead, the videos show three people leaving the area to the north, between Kasugai Gardens and City Hall. Flashes of light from the evening's fireworks light up the Kasugai Gardens area as the three people walk away.

While the clips don't clearly show the three people's faces, Forsyth suggested it was Nathan Truant, Vaten and Vaten's ex-girlfriend, who was hanging out with their group that night.

In a clip from the alleyway between Kasugai Gardens and the Memorial Arena, one of the three people can be seen stopping near some dumpsters, bending down and wiping something on the curb.

Vaten agreed with Forsyth that the man appears to be himself, and that he appeared to be wiping off a knife on the curb.

Upon his arrest in January 2019, Vaten told his cellmate, who was actually an undercover officer, that while he was on the bus ride home, he had admitted to stabbing someone. Vaten also confessed to an RCMP officer during his interrogation. In Kelowna court on Friday Vaten said he doesn't actually remember the events of the evening, and that he had only told police what he had heard from others.

Footage from inside the downtown Kelowna RCMP's “drunk tank” was also played in court over the course of the trial, showing Vaten and his cellmate several hours after Carriere was killed. Vaten had been arrested that night for kicking the Rutland RCMP detachment's window, but despite having blood-covered hands and police finding a knife in his backpack, Vaten was not a suspect in Carriere's death at this time.

Forsyth also played footage from inside Vaten's friend's garage on the morning of July 2, 2018, after Vaten had been released from the drunk tank. The friend previously testified that during this conversation, Vaten admitted he had stabbed someone. But Vaten claimed their conversation centred around the fact he had used cocaine the night prior.

On Tuesday, during what was suppose to be the last day of the trial Vaten changed his tune.

His co-accused, Nathan Truant, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault.

A sentencing hearing is expected to be set on October 13.